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Brian Tyler Cohen:

A 2-Minute Hate

The slave trade.

We get caught up in the ideology, sometimes to the point where some of us can't quite figure out that hating slavery isn't supposed to translate to hating the slaves for having been enslaved.

I'm left with the sense that we're indulging ourselves in a little Blame-The-Victim exercise as we try to resolve our internal dissonance.

Anger turned inward is depression, and that feels bad.

Anger turned outward is aggression, and that feels better. 

Today's Today

So, no, I'm not laughing at the tragedy. I'm laughing at the sometimes absurd reactions to the tragedy.

Reactions like the inevitable commercialization of every-fucking-thing no matter what, here in USAmerica Inc.

There's also the point that it seems like we feel a need to sanctify certain events. And I think that leads us to concentrate on aspects of the event that we can relate to (3,000 dead on 9/11), at the expense of other - arguably greater - lessons that get pushed into the background; lessons that would make the next 9/11 less likely.

Commerce Marches On

From WaPo today:

A new law in Michigan will prohibit local governments from banning, regulating or imposing fees on the use of plastic bags and other containers. You read that correctly: It’s not a ban on plastic bags — it’s a ban on banning plastic bags.

--and--

Bans and restrictions on the use of plastic bags are widespread in other parts of the country and around the world. The rationale is simple: Plastic bags are infamous non-biodegradable sources of pollution — although they will eventually break down into tiny pieces, scientists believe this process can take hundreds of years, or even up to a century, in landfills.

--and--

The new Michigan law was met with praise from the Michigan Restaurant Association for this reason.

“With many of our members owning and operating locations across the state, preventing a patchwork approach of additional regulations is imperative to avoid added complexities as it related to day-to-day business operations,” said Robert O’Meara, the association’s vice president of government affairs, in a statement.

Threaten the Cookie Cutter Cost-vs-Profit Structure, and the Rent Collectors will punish you.

And what was that about a powerful remote Central Government imposing its will on the noble local folk?

Today's Today - Cont'd

Saw this on Olbermann last nite too (he led with it and he was pissed about it - surprise surprise), but it just popped up on Addicting Info:

Lemme be clear - I don't have any problem with how anybody remembers or commemorates or grieves or whatever.  My main thing is that everybody gets to do what they wanna do - which includes doing nothing at all, btw.

Keith Olbermann gets to do it his way and you get to do it your way and I get to do it my way; and we all get to feel however we feel; and we all get to express it however we want as long it doesn't pose a threat to anybody's reasonable expectation of physical safety.

We're a little weird here in USAmerica Incorporated.  I look for exactly this kind of crass commercialism because I think it signals our willingness to move past the Compulsory Solemnity Phase in our process of "getting on with it".

Steve-O-Lanterns

By way of old high school buddy, and wood carver extraordinaire, Steve Pancoast at Piece Of The Wind: